Erik Spoelstra was his guy. The two helped develop Wade into an NBA All-Star, dating to Spoelstra’s time as a Heat assistant coach. No matter where the season took the pair, they would stand together.

Or not.

While Wade has not necessarily distanced himself from his coach, there hardly was an embrace Monday, during these troubling times for the team.

Erik Spoelstra and Dwyane Wade still on same page? (Robert Duyos, Sun Sentinel)

“In this league, and in sports in general, you really don’t look at it and say a coach is your guy,” Wade said after Monday morning’s shootaround at AmericanAirlines Arena. “A coach is a coach and he has to take hard stances at times, more times than not.

“Players and coaches, it’s always that kind of weird type of relationship. You don’t look at him and say, ‘That’s my guy right there,’ in the sense of me. Yeah, I came in when Spo was early in his coaching career. He wasn’t even on the bench when I first came in. He’s grown to know me; I’ve grown to know him.”

And now?

“He’s a different person and I’m a different player than when we came in,” Wade continued. “So, I’m not going to say he’s my guy, but he’s my coach, you know. We listen to him and try to execute a game plan and sometimes players and coaches get into disagreements. In general, that’s life with people. It’s the nature of sports.”

But it never has been the nature of Spoelstra and Wade. There seemingly was a deeper bond there.

So how would Wade evaluate Spoelstra’s performance?

“Right now, in my opinion, no one is doing a good job, we’re 9-8,” Wade said. “We’re all in this together. Players not doing a good job; coaches not doing a good job. As a whole. When success comes, we win as a whole. We win four in a row, Coach is going to look great.”

No, this was not a vote of confidence, a vote of support. Clearly, party lines have been blurred within the Heat.

Comments (281 Comments)

“JC , the problem is that Spo is incompetent and Lebron knows it now.”

Exactly.

Spo is not some respect-worthy head coach. The man had literally never been a head coach in the American basketball system — not high school, not college, not the pros — until 2008, when he was gifted an NBA coaching job and proceeded to bury Michael Beasley, the #2 pick in the draft. The guy also never played in the NBA. Sorry, but how was this going to work?

The fact is, with a team of LeBron, Wade, and Bosh, you’re going to need everyone to buy in. You’re asking mega-stars to sacrifice for the good of the team — as a default precondition, they need to be convinced that it actually is for the good of the team. Now tell me, how is Spo supposed to convince LeBron, or Wade, or Bosh that he knows what’s best for team? Why would these guys potentially sacrifice of themselves to carry out a game plan they disagree with, knowing full well that the man forming the game plan is literally less experienced in basketball than they are? Especially when things got off to this rocky of a start — everyone should have known that we didn’t have patience this season. These guys need to win, and win fast. Otherwise, things are going to get very ugly.

It’s time for Spo to go. He’s a bad coach, he’s in over his head, and he never should have been hired in the first place. On a team with a healthy Dwyane Wade and no aspirations to do anything other than make a playoff appearance, that’s fine, because frankly, it doesn’t matter. You can’t f*ck that up. But now he’s been exposed for the crap coach he’s been all along, and there’s no un-crossing the Rubicon. Even aside from the fact that he’s a bad coach, he’s lost this team. And I can’t imagine any way he gets them back without some serious support in the locker room — support Wade clearly isn’t giving, and support an injured Haslem can’t back up.

Riley and the Heat organization was responsible for the elevated expectations. It was Riley and the Heat who arranged the mega celebration to greet the Big Three? What other organization ever did anything like that?

Now it’s up to Riley to ensure those outsized expectations are fulfilled.

“Dsky
November 29, 2010 at 4:06 pm
I’ve heard this disconnect argument for why Riley shouldn’t come back to the bench, and while I understand where it’s coming from, I really can’t agree with it. His hard work ethic mentality is exactly what this team needs. How he holds players accountable and treats his team is a pedigree for success, no matter who is on the team.”

Dsky, I’m right there with you about the work ethic. In fact, I was lamenting about the lack of effort and focus as far back as the second NJ game. That said, its clear today that some part of this roster doesn’t buy into that philosophy; at least not when its being hammered into them. Spo apparently has taken that tack, only to have Lebron’s camp leak their dissatisfaction with it. Why would you expect a significantly different response under Riley? I guess you could argue that Riley brings a credibility that Spo simply lacks, but I find that to be a hard sell. Given what I’ve seen, I’m much more inclined to believe the chatter about Lebron’s uncoachability.

Indeed Riley commands more respect, but even more, it’s the accountability factor. Riley will lose a game by not playing LeBron to send a message to him that he has to earn his keep like everyone else. I know Riley made that “yes sir Mr. James” comment, but Riles would never actually talk like that to a player….ever. Riley would basically force LeBron to get with the program or get out. I seriously believe this to be true. I could be way off, but I just see Riley as a guy that knows how to send a message that is received loud and clear by every player, no matter how good they are.

Spo is gone. I think that’s probably the only thing about which we can all agree. No matter how you want to interpret the comments, statements, and information disseminated today, its clear that he’s lost too much of the locker room.

Wade did what he had to do by throwing spo under the bus.Wade wants win and he knows spo is not the right guy to lead them to a championship.I feel bad for spo but he has clearly lost this team and it only took a mere 18 games. Time for riles to come back and lay the hammer down military style …capiche.

Dolphins Better Than Heat
November 29, 2010 at 4:24 pm
Riley and the Heat organization was responsible for the elevated expectations. It was Riley and the Heat who arranged the mega celebration to greet the Big Three? What other organization ever did anything like that?

Now it’s up to Riley to ensure those outsized expectations are fulfilled.

=====

That would be logical if you had knowledgeable sports fans that understood the difference between hype and expectations, but thats not the case.

Just read some of the posts on this blog for conclusive evidence of that.

Yes, of course. I thought it would start like this. I just didnt understand the level of panic that would overcome the fans, media, and most important the Team.

We have beaten the Suns and the Magic very convincingly albeit at home.

We have lost to the Celtics, Jazz, Hornets, Magic, Pacers, and Mavericks. Unfortunate for us to have played these upper echelon teams within our first 17 games.

The reality is it is not as bad as it seems, but the panic is.

Through no coaching change, and just by natural circumstances we will win a bunch more games than we will lose and it will be one of the hardest things to defeat the Heat in a 7 game series, something I feel only two teams could qualify for, Bos and LAL.

“Ohshzy (The Trio-5)
November 29, 2010 at 2:07 pm
“He’s jumping on them,” ESPN quoted its source. “If anything, he’s been too tough on them. Everybody knows LeBron is playful and likes to joke around, but Spoelstra told him in front of the whole team that he has to get more serious. The players couldn’t believe it. They feel like Spoelstra’s not letting them be themselves.””

“Indeed Riley commands more respect, but even more, it’s the accountability factor. Riley will lose a game by not playing LeBron to send a message to him that he has to earn his keep like everyone else. I know Riley made that “yes sir Mr. James” comment, but Riles would never actually talk like that to a player….ever.”

Does Riley necessarily command more respect? Shaq was perpetually out of shape in 06 and mailed-in the regular season, even after Riley took over. In 07, Riley shattered his hip out of frustration with his inability to reach the roster and subsequently took a sabbatical. In 08, Riley finally relented, traded away Toine and Shaq, and let Posey walk. Riley reached that group for all of two months in the Spring of 06.

So, I’m not categorically dismissing that Riley has enough credibility to straighten out this bunch. But it’s a hard sell; first because of how it played out in 06-08, and second, because of Lebron’s enormous ego.

I agree that the “Yes, Sir” comment was borderline disrespectful. I don’t agree that Riley getting more respect than Spoelstra from this group is not a foregone conclusion. Shaq was and is a very special case, and he was surrounded by other agitators like Toine, J Will, Gary Payton, etc. And even Shaq did everything Riley asked him to do for the first two years he was here. If we can get Lebron to do everything Riley asks for two years, I think we’ll have two more championship banners in the rafters.

Respect factor: Shaq came to the Heat to play for Riley. He said so specifically many times.

When Shaq started having issues with Wade and Riley, Riley shipped his fat a$$ out of town. If these three really want to play out the vision they had when they first joined forces, they are going to have to earn that right like anyone else. Riley is the only guy that actually has the balls to make LeBron earn his keep around here. If there’s another coach out there who could do the job better, I’m all ears. I just don’t think the guy to command respect and accountability is Spo….he also is not nearly as inspirational as Riley. I also don’t see any other available coaches who would be able to enforce Heat culture and proper work ethic like Riley can and would.

Does anyone think that Lebron came to the Heat with the intention of forcing a coaching change? Of course not. He quickly realized, however, that Spoelstra has no clue how to set up an offense and was not up to the job. He also realized that the sooner the ship is righted the better it is for everyone involved. That is why this is happening.
Spoelstra has been with this organization forever. He is hard working and loyal. He was also close with DWade. This is also an organization that truly rewards loyalty. Because of this the Heat have been slow to recognize what has been clear to many of us for some time.
This team can still be great. I just home Mickey pulls the trigger sooner than later.

You don’t have to bet your life, wife, and the kids, dude have some respect unlike Lebron and his mom.

And it won’t surprise me either. That team is doing well without Lequit. They are 7-9 with a new team in 8th place, ready for a 2nd round exit like with Lequit last year. And they don’t even have Shaq, West, Iigauskas, and a few others.

jrod44 says:
November 29, 2010 at 4:40 pm
Yes, of course. I thought it would start like this. I just didnt understand the level of panic that would overcome the fans, media, and most important the Team.

We have beaten the Suns and the Magic very convincingly albeit at home.

We have lost to the Celtics, Jazz, Hornets, Magic, Pacers, and Mavericks. Unfortunate for us to have played these upper echelon teams within our first 17 games.

The reality is it is not as bad as it seems, but the panic is.

Through no coaching change, and just by natural circumstances we will win a bunch more games than we will lose and it will be one of the hardest things to defeat the Heat in a 7 game series, something I feel only two teams could qualify for, Bos and LAL.

The Lakers have won two championships in a row and have the luxury of being able to coast through the regular season. Their coach has won 11 NBA championships. The Heat shouldn’t be compared to the Lakers at this poiint.

1. in the half court for majority of the game we will run our offense inside out through Bosh. That is how Riles has always done it even going back to the lakers. Magic was the man yea, but when they needed a basket in the half court they went to Kareem. lebron or wade could fill that same role in the post once they develop more dwn there. Until then wade and lebron will play off of Bosh down low in the half court. Forcing teams to overplay bosh downlow will open things up for bron and wade in the half court

2. lebron will run things in transition and will be the primary player to score or make plays off of misses and turnovers. just like Magic

3. and in the 4th Wade will be the closer unless Bosh or Bron is going off that night

LEBRON IS LIKE TUPAC,BOTH MISUNDERSTOOD
Learn to appreciate the greats,don’t wait till they die or leave your town .
Now that Lebron is gone,Ohio economy is even worse than ever.
Foreclosures have doubled since july 8th.
He is gone fellas and it’s your fault.

I know Riley is going to try to make James into something like Magic Johnson, but Lequit is going to want to be like Jordan because that’s what he idolized while growing up. And he sucks at decision making, especially at the end of games.

LeBron has publicly stated he idolized Oscar Robertson and Magic Johnson more than MJ growing up. Obviously, like anyone growing up in the Jordan era, he loved MJ too, but Magic and Oscar were his guys.

FROM LEBRON JAMES SHOULDER BUMP:
SPO HAS NO RIGHT TO BE THOUGH ON ME
WHAT WAS HIS RESUME IN THE FIRST PLACE?.
I WILL RESPECT YOU WHEN YOU HAVE DONE SOMETHING IN THE FIRST PLACE.
VIDEO EDITOR,PLEASE GIVE ME A BREAK.
NOW IF WE TALK ABOUT PHIL JACKSON,RILEY ,SLOAN,YES I WILL RESPECT YOU
GOT IT ?”

And that is out of whack because LeQuit has destryoed effectiveness of the team by holding the team hostage by keeping the ball so long before passing at the last minute and expecting Wade to pull it out.

Truheat2010
November 29, 2010 at 4:25 pm
Chris_Broussard
Not a LeBron vs Spoelstra story, as some have assumed. It’s a “Heat players” story.
——————————-

This is what I told the blog last week. There were several players lashing out at Spo. Wade and Lebron wereboth involved. For some reason the blog wants to make it seem as if Lebron is the only one upset with Spo.

It doesn’t matter who is upset with Spo. He is done. He lacks what we need as a coach for this team. It’s well documented.

The difference between LeQuit and Wade is that Wade will still play hard for any coach, LeQuit will QUIT like he did in Cleveland…that’s from his disrespectful upbringing from his mom, you know, that mom.

I saw this team as a 65 win team, but still would have hard time passing the Boston or Lakers. Not impossible, but difficult. It could still happen.

This all got out of whack because:

1. Spo is most accountable. He was stubborn and inflexible with the roster. And in the beginning, he gave keys to Lebron to run the offense. Now he is paying for it. Spo doesn’t qualify and it doesn’t need to be documented.

2. Injury to Miller, and then Haslem, exposed this team’s weaknesses with rebounding and scoring from outside of the big 3.

3. Wade came into the season off preseason of child custody battle and injury. No excuses, though.

4. LeQuit has held the team offense hostage with his hold pattern.

5. LeQuit has destroyed any kind of team spirit and cohesiveness with his sulking, complaining, quitting attitude. He could have played hard and let the chips fall where it may, but old habits never die. LeQuit is a quitter.

*Other players are just about where we expected, so I will spare the whip.

And when I said Heat will have tough competition from the Boston and that Shaq, Garnette, Perkins, JO, Davis frontline will pose problems for us, most bloggers were like Anthony will be so much better because Shaq will make them so inefficient on offense and defense. And that is so stupid.

A big guy like that with offensive game can dominate a little midget like Anthony even at age 50. And a big guy like that can be so immobile all he has to do is stand in the paint and guys like Bosh, Anthony, Haslem won’t do a thing against him except shoot a few outside jumpers. That’s called defense.

And I specifically said Allen, Pierce, Garnette are all gonna benefit from having a big guy they could dump the ball in…and they are gonna get so much more room to shoot that they are gonna love him because they are not a ball hogging team.

Honestly, the anti-LeBron thing is just as bad as King Riley’s anti-Wade tyrades. Wade usually starts off slow. LeBron hasn’t done anything that resembles quitting yet imo. Body language? Both Wade & LeBron’s have been sus so far. Bosh is just fine, but he could stand to attempt more blocks…

LeQuit has shown all kinds of signs of quitting like he did in Cleveland…like throwing a shot up without much of a force and clanking off the front rim after holding the ball until like 22 seconds mark. I have seen that a few times besides some other things like body language and so on.

Riley is not going to coach. Sporon is a youth destroyer. How would we like Beas and Dorell back? They were cut for the always injured Miller. The Warrior- Timberwolve game last week was a revelation. We need an experienced coach with Riley history. How about Jeff Van Gundy? His analysis of the heat was right on.

Hey blog idiots, it’s practically the entire team that thinks Spo is not the right coach for the job! They are questioning Spo’s offensive and defensive strategies, mainly because they are so predictable. Why are some of you morons making it seem as if Lebron is the only one that has a problem with Spo?

IRA WINDERMAN is embarking on his 24th season covering the Miami Heat for the Sun-Sentinel, witnessing more than 1,900 of the team's games (thus the bags under the eyes and hair loss not truly depicted by the accompanying photo). With the help of antacids (during the lean years) and a sense of humor (during the Riley dictatorship), he has been able to remain a courtside fixture at AmericanAirlines Arena, a veteran 12 years older than coach Erik Spoelstra. Only former trainer Ron Culp had attended more Heat games, but, then again, Winderman has yet to tape his first ankle.